


A Hell of a Party

by Zauzat



Series: A Mighty Fine Man [3]
Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Christmas, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-06
Updated: 2010-12-06
Packaged: 2017-10-21 17:24:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/227712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zauzat/pseuds/Zauzat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pike drags a reluctant McCoy to a Festive Season charity gala.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hell of a Party

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by the ever-obliging [](http://imachar.livejournal.com/profile)[**imachar**](http://imachar.livejournal.com/) and the talented [](http://random00b.livejournal.com/profile)[**random00b**](http://random00b.livejournal.com/).  
>  Written for the [](http://pikemccoy.livejournal.com/profile)[**pikemccoy**](http://pikemccoy.livejournal.com/) Holiday-A-Thon.

Pike leaned against one of the pillars at the entrance to the jetty, waiting. He’d been so convinced he’d be late that he’d ended up being early. He took the time to focus on his currently most perplexing conundrum.

What was he going to give Leonard for his thirtieth birthday? He only knew that it was on the twentieth of January due to reviewing the man’s enlistment records. McCoy was notoriously shy about asking for anything for himself. Pike wanted to make the day special, wanted it to mark in some unspoken way the end of a shitty decade and the start of something better. He also wanted to acknowledge, if only implicitly, how much Leonard had improved his own life. But what did you give a man who seemed to want nothing more than to spend time with him?

“Chris! Looking good, youngster. I thought we’d miss each other. Aren’t you supposed to still be off-planet at that Federation forces recruitment conference?” Pike turned towards the voice of his old friend and erstwhile CMO, Phil Boyce, who walked up with a stunning Andorian on his arm. Her antennae rose out of a mop of wild blonde curls and her shimmering silver dress contrasted beautifully with her deep blue skin. Pike, impressed, gave Boyce a subtle thumbs-up sign. Boyce grinned and introduced her as Vindizhei sh’Raazh, a senior administrator on the Starbase where he was working.

“I managed to hitch a lift on an ambassadorial shuttle,” Pike explained. “Commed Leonard at the last minute to get himself gussied up. He sounded pretty grumpy about it. He may yet stand me up.”

“Ah, the new man in your life. You know I expect an introduction, Chris, and a chance to grill him on his intentions towards you. Especially as you seem to be hinting pretty strongly that you want him in my med-bay on the _Enterprise_.”

“You’ll like him, Phil. At least, I hope you do.”

“We’ll see about that. So, you headed in to the Bachmeier event or going the whole hog with the Vanderbilt affair?”

“Bachmeier. Always the best party.”

“And there you are right, but Vindizhei needs to make nice with the great and the good. So we’re off to Vanderbilt first. We’ll see you at the other one later.”

Pike watched Phil and his date head off along the jetty.

The San Francisco Festive Season Charity Gala was the most prestigious fundraising event on the west coast of North America. Over the years different families had sponsored parties within the overall event. It was now so large that in the last few decades the custom had become to close off Richardson bay. The parties were held on a series of giant floating platforms, each ringed by smaller platforms and linked by walkways – a huge maze of connected lily pads strung from Sausalito to Belvedere. Climate control shields guaranteed balmy conditions despite the December chill and surface protection shields meant that drunken revelers did not drown in the bay.

With each pad ringed with fairy lights, and the bigger ones lit in festive colors, the platforms shimmered across the bay like pearls dropped onto black marble, or stars and nebulas reflected in the dark water of the bay. It was a visual spectacular; everyone who was anyone attended. Ticket prices for each event varied, with all the proceeds going to charity. The Vanderbilt affair was one of the swankier ones, and most of the Starfleet and Federation government bigwigs ended up there. But the Bachmeier party was always much more fun and cheaper. It was the favorite of the Starfleet instructors and any ships’ crews in dock on the appropriate date.

Pike had purchased two tickets months ago, strong-armed into it by some pretty young fundraiser, having no clear idea who he would take with him. By the time he had Leonard in his life, he also knew that he’d be off-planet for the event, attending a conference on ways to increase species diversity in the various armadas of the Federation as well as participating in a Federation task force to write new recruitment protocols. Parties didn’t much seem McCoy’s thing, so he’d left the tickets in a drawer and written them off as a charitable donation. When he realized that he could get home two days early and just in time, he’d commed McCoy to get his hands on a tuxedo and meet him at the Sausalito entrance. He’d ignored the incredulous grumbles he’d got in return and rushed through his landing procedures to get here on time.

Looking up again, he saw more familiar figures walking towards him: Leonard, Jim Kirk and a stunning Orion who he rather thought was Cadet Gaila. She wore a tawny copper dress, seemingly made of many layers of material that was tantalizingly translucent, but not quite. Still, with the neckline slashed to the navel, it hardly hid her abundant figure. She and Kirk made quite the picture, certainly two of the world’s beautiful people.

But Pike’s eyes were firmly on McCoy. Damn but the man cleaned up well. Not that the younger man was prepared to play by the rules of course. He was wearing a beautifully fitting pearl-grey suit with a black shirt beneath, casually unbuttoned at the top, not a tie in sight. Not quite the specified dress code, but, by god, it looked good on him. It had been three and a half very long weeks; how Pike was meant to keep his hands off Leonard through an entire evening, he didn’t know.

“Captain Pike! Looking pretty good for an old guy.” That, of course, was Jim. “And this is the gorgeous Gaila, engineer supreme, computer whizz-kid and cutest butt on campus. Gaila, this is the much revered Captain Christopher Pike.”

“I know who he is, you ass. He’s the sexiest instructor on campus. Everyone knows that. A pleasure to meet you sir.”

“And you know grumpy old Bones here,” continued Jim. The doctor stood awkwardly behind the two of them, hands thrust deep in his pockets. “So which luscious lady are you waiting for, sir?”

Pike frowned at him and glanced across at McCoy who was staring intently at the ground as if it was about to reveal the meaning of life. Leonard hadn’t told Jim? How was that possible? Still, maybe it was. Leonard was a very private man and there was no doubt that Kirk would be all over anything he considered a juicy piece of gossip like a bad rash.

Ever since the run in with the brass over Leonard’s flight test the two of them had done little more than meet up at Pike’s apartment and spend their evenings talking or working quietly together, or of course having enthusiastic and entertaining sex. Pike had been left emotionally bruised by the whole affair and he suspected that Leonard had been badly scared by it, terrified that his tendency to run off at the mouth might cause him to lose Chris. Pike had come to realize that the doctor was a rather heartbreaking combination of confidence and insecurity. Still, not even telling Jim seemed extreme. Pike had a sudden urge to get a little revenge for the various times that McCoy had discomforted him in public.

“Oh, I don’t know, Kirk. I thought I’d just hang out here, see if I got lucky. So who is your doctor going with?”

“Dunno. He won’t tell. Personally I suspect it’s just him and his right hand.”

“Jim, shut the fuck up,” muttered McCoy.

Pike stalked over to him. “He cleans up very nicely, I must say.”

He ran a hand up Leonard’s arm and over his shoulder, before using it to bring up his chin and force the doctor to look him in the eye. “Very pretty. He’ll do.” He wrapped the hand around the back of Leonard’s neck and kissed him, deeply and thoroughly, pushing him off balance with his own body weight. The doctor startled backwards and then grabbed at Pike to keep his footing. He resisted the kiss for a moment but the weight of their time apart was too great.

Suddenly, forcefully, he grabbed Pike’s ass with one hand and the back of his jacket with the other and seized control of the kiss, mauling Pike’s mouth with his own, biting at his lips while still managing to grumble: “you fucking show-off, what you do to me, missed you….” After several long minutes the need to breathe finally won out over their oral wrestling match and they pulled apart.

“Wow sir. Are you handing those out to everyone? Because I’m next if you are!” Gaila stared at the two of them in fascination.

“Hell yeah, if you’re handing those out, I’ll wait in line.” Jim was both grinning at him and staring in perplexity at McCoy, an odd effect.

“Thank you for the offer, Cadet Gaila but I believe I’ll have my hands full just coping with one irascible doctor here.”

“Well sir, if you ever need a third, I’d be delighted to help out,” offered Gaila. “Or maybe I could just watch?”

“For the love of god, can we please go in now?” McCoy was flushed brick red and back to staring at the floor.

“Come on then.”

“Bones! Bones man, you’ve been holding out on me,” hissed Jim as Pike pulled McCoy away. “I want details!” he shouted after them.

“I’m gonna kill you for that,” muttered Leonard.

“As long as we get to fuck first,” replied Pike equitably. “Besides, you’re the one who didn’t tell your best friend.”

“I was trying to be discreet.”

“Guess I blew that out of the water then.”

“Cocky bastard.”

“Your cocky bastard.”

That got him a shy grin and a squeeze of his hand. “Yeah, okay. I might forgive you, in about a century from now. You’ll have to make it up to me.”

Pike settled a hand in the small of McCoy’s back as he steered him past the gatekeepers towards the Bachmeier party. “I’m not a girl,” grumbled McCoy.

“Well, I’m not the girl,” retorted Pike.

McCoy pulled him into the shadows behind a vast and dangerously top-heavy flower arrangement, running his large warm hands up under Pike’s tuxedo jacket. “When I’ve got you on your back with my cock up your ass, going all breathy and moaning, I rather think you are!”

Pike ended that line of thought by kissing Leonard thoroughly.

 *****

Pike knew many of the guests, from the Academy, from his days in space, as Admiral Josh Pike’s son. He kept the doctor close by his side, suspecting that the man might make a run for the anonymity of the shadows if Pike let him. He always had a hand on Leonard’s shoulder or his arm, or an arm around his back and made sure to introduce the doctor to all his acquaintances.

“Dr. Leonard McCoy, one of the star recruits of the Medical school.”

“My partner, Leonard McCoy. Starfleet poached him from Emory, one of our best and brightest.”

“Yes, that McCoy. He figured out how to graft neural tissue to the cerebral cortex. We’re very lucky to have him.”

McCoy was curiously bashful, always polite and charming when he chose to be, but mostly staying quiet at Pike’s side.

When the music finally stared up, Ludwig and Candy Bachmeier led the opening waltz. Pike tried to drag McCoy onto the dance floor.

“I don’t dance,” protested the doctor.

“Don’t or can’t? I don’t believe a good southern boy like you can’t dance. Come along.”

“Well, I’m damned well leading. It’s bad enough going forwards, without trying to work out how to do it backwards.”

As Pike had suspected, McCoy was indeed good at it. He could smell the man’s aftershave, the scent rising from warm skin. When the waltz ended and was replaced by something much slower, he refused to let McCoy escape. Instead he pulled him close and buried his face against the thick dark hair, nuzzling against the soft skin of Leonard’s neck, teasing the edge of an ear with his tongue.

“Dammit Chris, everyone can see us.”

Pike pulled back a little to focus on Leonard’s face. They were now doing little more than swaying against each other. “So? I’ve missed you.”

“Then why are we here?” hissed McCoy. “We could be back in your apartment having a very private party. One involving a lot less clothing. A Santa hat and some mistletoe would be enough. Instead you’ve dragged me out here where we can’t do a damn thing and thousands of strangers are staring at us.”

“They’re only staring because we’re smoking hot together,” teased Pike. “And they are not strangers. They are our friends and our colleagues. I don’t care if they know that I’m happy to be with you. He ran a hand gently down Leonard’s flushed cheek. “I’m proud to be seen with you, baby.”

 *****

Pike was trapped listening to Commander Grimper ramble about the many shortcomings of the cadets unfortunate enough to be in his tactics class. Personally Pike’s sympathies were entirely with the cadets. He was only paying attention with half an ear, more interested in eavesdropping on the conversation behind him.

Jim had finally caught up with McCoy in the crush near the bar.

“Damn Bones, so you’re fucking him. Who’s on top then? No? Okay forget I asked. But listen dude, you’ve got to put in a good word for me. I have to be on the _Enterprise_ when she launches. I’ll have just finished my three year fast-track and I need to be on that baby. Commander d’Arbatnoth is threatening me with an assignment to some garbage scow out in sector ass-end-of-nowhere. Jeez, just because he found me fucking his TA over the desk in his office. You’d think the man could see the funny side. Anyway, Bones, get Pike there all well fucked out and then whisper a few sweet nothings in his ear about how he really needs me in the command crew of the _Enterprise_.”

“Jim, hush your mouth! Chris’ll make his own decisions about who he takes on his ship.”

“But Bones, I can give you some tips on technique if you like, tell you how to blow his brains out of his dick. There’s a little thing you can do with your tongue….”

“Sounds fascinating, Cadet Kirk, but let me assure you that Leonard’s technique is more than satisfactory.”

Pike pulled McCoy away from a suddenly speechless Kirk.

“He’s a good kid, really. You’re not going to hold that bullshit against him, right?”

“Of course not. Kirk will be on the _Enterprise_ , as you will be. But I’m not going to tell him that. Let him think he needs to work for it.”

Pike caught sight of a tall woman whose dark skin was set off by a magnificent black and purple gown in geometric patterns, bulked out with many petticoats, and topped of by a startling triangular headdress. “Now her you need to meet.” He steered McCoy through the crowd.

“What’s that thing on her head?” McCoy whispered.

“It’s an _otjikaeva_ , a veil rolled around a leather cap. She’s Herero, from the south-west of the United States of Africa, and it’s their traditional headdress. The two lateral points represent cattle horns.”

“Chris, dearest, how lovely to see you!” She kissed him enthusiastically on both cheeks, then pulled him into a tight hug. Pike ducked to miss the horns.

“Ndja, may I introduce Dr Leonard McCoy, a renowned researcher and one of the best doctors to be snagged by Starfleet in recent years. Leonard, this is Dr Ndjambi Karunga, Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases with the Federation Health Organisation.”

Chris smiled as Leonard’s eyes widened. He looked even more uncomfortable when Dr Karunga whipped a padd out of the depths of her voluminous petticoats and called up his resume. “Hmm, med school results – good. Emory – not bad, bunch of pompous asses down there though. Neural grafting research – that was you, was it? Impressive.”

She looked up at Leonard, smiling. “Well, you look like a young man worth watching. I’ve beamed my contact details to your comm. If Starfleet ever treats you badly, look me up. I’m sure we could use you.”

“Starfleet is looking after him just fine,” said Chris with a wink, putting a possessive hand on the back of Leonard’s neck.

“Oh, it’s like that, is it? You’re a lucky man Leonard. I recall that our Chris here was as able in bed as he was in the captain’s chair. Still, if he gives you trouble, call me.”

Dr Karunga was soon swept away by a party of Tellarite ambassadors.

“Chris! She’s got to be twenty years older than you. When did that happen?”

Chris laughed. “I was a newly minted captain and she’d just joined the FHO, was up and coming as a Director of Health newly assigned to Tellar Prime. We were sent to ferry her over there along with a load of supplies. Let’s just say that we were both high on new promotions and shared our enthusiasm to our mutual satisfaction. We’ve been friends ever since.”

 *****

Gaila had stolen Leonard away from Pike, laughingly dismissing the doctor’s protests that he couldn’t dance. “I saw your display of vertical fucking on the floor with the captain, Len. Very inspiring. You dance beautifully!” A flushed Leonard had had no reply to that.

Pike was refreshing his drink when a deep voice spoke over his shoulder.

“So, you brought McCoy.”

Damn, Richard Barnett. Pike had been avoiding the man since the flight sim test debacle.

“You weren’t exactly being discreet out there on the dance floor.”

“Yes, I brought Leonard. I’ve nothing to hide in that regard.”

“I know he’s medical so it’s technically allowed but plenty of the higher-ups don’t like instructors getting intimate with cadets. It sends out the wrong message. You’re not doing your career any favors.”

“If the brass place more weight on who I’m fucking than on what I’ve achieved in space –” Pike took a deep breath, biting off the sentence before he said something unforgivable, irretrievable. Richard had done too much for him over the years to be treated badly. “I’m as committed to Starfleet as I’ve ever been, but this man matters to me. I’m not giving him up just because a few of the higher-ups get pissy about it.”

“It’s that serious with you two?” Barnett said, clearly surprised. “He doesn’t seem your type. I thought you were all about pretty girls with feisty attitudes.”

Pike took a moment to order his thoughts. Barnett had seen him through a lot; Chris had looked up to him as his ideal of a Starfleet officer – in a deliberate contrast to his own father – and Chris himself had done his best to act as a model Starfleet mentee. However, there was a lot that he had not shared with this man. He didn’t want to lose Barnett’s respect but he was done with hiding from his own desires.

“He’s my type, Richard. If anything, this is the first time in my life I’ve found the courage to go with my type.”

After a moment of stony silence, Barnett started to talk about current political gossip. Pike’s heart sank. Clearly there would be no nod of approval from his long-time mentor.

 *****

“Captain Pike. We’re dancing. Now!”

He found himself being towed onto the floor by Victoria Turnbull, looking magnificent in a floor-length form-fitting ruby-red dress, slit to the thigh. With the aid of monstrously high heels, the top of her artfully curled blonde head came almost to Pike’s chin. Despite her petite size, Chris had no illusions about who was in charge in this dance.

“I’m trying to avoid dancing with that sodding ambassador from ǃXóõ. I’m supposed to be touching him up for some research grants but he’s got these tentacle appendages that keep emerging in unexpected places and doing some touching of their own. Most disconcerting. I’ll do a lot to meet our funding targets but even I have limits!”

She let Pike twirl her round expertly.

“So Chris, out in public with Dr McCoy. I approve. I thought you might cave once it became clear that Richard won’t give you his blessing. I don’t know what’s wrong with that bloody man! He’s so effing formal. I thought you were his little clone, too proper to have any fun. But you’re growing on me.”

“Victoria,” said Pike dryly when he finally managed to get a word in edge-wise. “You’ve no idea how much your approval means to me.”

“I bet I don’t.” She grinned up at him. “You’re definitely growing on me. If your doctor ever breaks your heart, look me up.”

Pike stared after her in confusion as she promptly dumped him at the end of the dance to take up with the deputy head of the Department of Temporal Investigations.

“I think the Surgeon-General may just have hit on me,” he told Leonard when the doctor rejoined him.

“She’d better damned well not,” growled McCoy. “I got first dibs and I’m keeping you, even if I have to lock you up in a cellar.”

“Kinky!”

“You don’t know the half of it. In fact I’m done with meeting all your past and future girlfriends. Outside. Now.”

“Bossy,” grumbled Pike.

“And don’t you love it,” whispered McCoy in his ear.

 *****

Leonard found them a vacant small lily pad with just a couple of sofas and several vases overfilled with poinsettias and drowned in tinsel, that looked out across the bay to the lights of Sausalito. The doctor disappeared down on his knees to fiddle with the cables of fairy lights that ran along the edge of the platform. Their pad was abruptly plunged into darkness.

“Leonard, what the hell are you up to?”

McCoy stayed down on his knees, pushing Pike against the back of one of the sofas.

“What d’you think?” He nuzzled his face against the crotch of Pike’s pants.

“Jesus, no, not here. Are you mad?”

“Yes, right here and now. You’ve been teasing me all damned evening, looking hot as hell in that fancy penguin suit. All that touching and dancing. There’s only so much a man can take. Just keep nice and quiet and no one will notice.”

McCoy’s large hand rubbed provocatively over his groin. It was hard to think with his blood fleeing his brain in a dizzying spiral downwards.

“Leonard, all my Starfleet bosses and half the damned Federation government are here. We can’t do this.”

His button had been popped open. The sound of the zip being lowered seemed obscenely loud in the quiet of the night.

“Just shut the fuck up and we’ll be fine,” retorted Leonard. “Stuff your hand in your mouth.”

And that was the end of the discussion, largely because Leonard’s mouth was now full with his rapidly hardening cock and damn, how was he supposed to think straight after so long without this man? Leonard certainly didn’t need any tips from Kirk as to what to do with his tongue.

He took the doctor’s advice and bit down hard on the pad of his thumb to try and hold back his moans. He heard voices behind them and tensed, trying to push Leonard away but the man was having none of it. This was stupid and reckless and dangerous and damn, but he was turned on by all that. Snippets of conversation floated his way, bits of politics and strategy and gossip. Oh god, that sounded just like Admiral Komack. This had the potential to be humiliating beyond belief.

He kept deadly silent but McCoy’s obscene slurping sounded as loud as an orchestra to his nervous ears. And the man wasn’t hurrying either. He licked and sucked and slurped as if Chris’s cock was a favorite popsicle and he was planning on making it last as long as possible. Trying to hurry things along, Pike closed his eyes and concentrated on a particularly inspirational time when McCoy had finally got his fantasy fulfilled and had fucked Chris over his ostentatious synth-mahogany office desk. It had been late on a Sunday afternoon and the door had been triple locked but Pike has still been wired with anxiety and arousal and had come like a geyser all over his damned desk top. Working there had still made him blush weeks later.

So maybe he did have a bit of a kink for being caught. He let his mind float over their friends at the party. Gaila and Jim would undoubtedly join in. Victoria and Ndja would probably giggle and watch. As for the likes of Richard Barnett and Admiral Komack, they would be horrified at what the prim and proper Captain Pike was up to. God, he loved Leonard for helping him find a way out of that stuffy persona.

He buried the fingers of his free hand deep in Leonard’s thick dark hair. He’d missed this man so much. He was in way over his head in this relationship and he’d never been happier. He gave himself up to the moment – the soft lapping of the water, the distant sound of music, muted voices on nearby lily pads and buzzing over all of it the rush of his own blood as Leonard sucked him down deeper than anyone with a gag reflex should be able to.

He tried not to thrust, he really did, but he couldn’t help himself, not with suction like that. Leonard’s hands tightened, long fingers digging into his thighs, as the doctor hummed in approval. Pike gave himself up utterly to the lush mouth of his lover, burying his hands in Leonard’s soft hair. His climax washed through him in a searing wave. There was an inevitability to it, a rightness – there was nowhere he’d rather be, no one he’d rather be with.

McCoy pulled himself up to lean against Pike as he slumped boneless against the sofa back, buzzing in the aftermath of his orgasm. “You’d let anybody onto the _Enterprise_ if I asked you right now, wouldn’t you?”

“Pretty much,” agreed Pike fuzzily. “Damn, you have a mouth on you.”

He pulled Leonard in tightly against him, letting the doctor rut slowly against his thigh. “What about you, baby?”

“I’ll wait till we get home,” McCoy whispered in his ear, teasing Chris with his accent gone as soft and slow as the Mississippi on a lazy summer’s day. “Give me somethin’ else to think about other than being damned nervous in such high falutin’ company. And when we get home, darlin’, I’m fixin’ to treat you right. I’m gonna spread you out on the bed, butt naked, and you’re gonna cross your hands up above your head – no restraints or nothin’, just keep ‘em up there because I want you to – and then I’m gonna lick and suck and nibble and kiss till you’re out of your mind with want, and I’ll only just’ve begun…”

“We could go home right now,” suggested Pike, rather breathlessly.

“Oh no darlin’. You dragged me out to this party when we could’ve been tucked up nice and warm in your apartment, having our own private reunion. We stay. I need to wet my whistle. Blowin’ you is thirsty work.”

McCoy grabbed his hand, pulling him across the walkway towards the next pad and the lights of the party. It took Pike several minutes to notice the tell-tale dust marks on Leonard’s legs. He dragged the doctor behind yet another floral extravaganza.

“For god’s sake, clean off the knees of your pants or everyone will know what we’ve been up to.”

 *****

Pike had wound his way back to the bar to get Leonard that drink when Boyce collared him.

“It looks good on you, Chris.”

“What does?” Pike asked alarmed, suddenly worried that it must be obvious to everyone in the room what he’d just been doing.

“Happiness, you idiot. Whatever else you’ve been up to, I don’t want to know about it. I’ve been seriously worried about you in the last year or two. Now, introduce me properly to this man of yours. I need to see if he’s good enough for you!”

“Just don’t scare him off with your stern father-in-law act,” teased Pike. “I don’t want to lose him.”

“That serious, is it?” Phil gave him a searching look. “You think he’s a keeper?”

Chris hesitated. He was by nature a careful man, not given to committing himself until he was certain of his choice. But Phil was one of his oldest friends, had seen him through some rough times as well as through some significant triumphs. If there was anyone in his life that he could be honest with it was this man.

“I think he might be.”

 *****

McCoy looked nervous as he was steered outside by Chris, Phil and Vindizhei. Given that Phil was both one of Chris’s closest friends and Leonard’s likely boss on the _Enterprise_ , Chris supposed he had reason to be.

They settled on one of the smaller lily pads, commandeering a set of the plush white sofas, enjoying the balmy night and the scent of the flowers. Pike talked Federation politics with Vindizhei while watching out of the corner of his eye as Phil tried to engage Leonard. The doctor was initially reticent and awkwardly formal, clearly trying to play it safe. Chris found himself rather charmed by this sign of Leonard’s concern for him. Damn, he had it bad for this man!

Boyce was too experienced to be fooled by the polite front and steered McCoy expertly towards one of current controversies in modern surgery. Leonard was soon holding forth with all his usual forceful conviction.

“I like him,” Phil told Chris, once Leonard had been sent away to refill all their drinks. “I was concerned about you taking a future CMO as a lover especially one that you are this besotted with. And don’t you tell me otherwise, Christopher Pike. I can see the infatuated way you watch him. You know that either the CMO or the first officer, or preferably both, need to be able to stand up to the captain, especially a captain as confident and as experienced as yourself. Types like you are the worst. Fortunately, Leonard doesn’t seem overawed by you and is apparently quite happy to call you out on your shit. I approve!”

“Oh hell, you and him in my medical bay! What a joy.”

“It’s okay,” he whispered in McCoy’s ear when the man returned. “You’ve been approved. I can keep you.”

Leonard kicked him and then sneaked a kiss. Chris pulled him in close. After his disappointing conversation with Barnett, Phil’s approval meant more than he could say.

Shortly thereafter Victoria joined them, kicking off her Himalayan heels and curling up on the sofa beside Phil. “Finally managed to palm that sodding ambassador off on some pretty Orion who apparently thinks tentacles are a bit of alright. And I got a promise of funding for research into the medical needs of his species. A win all round!”

Jim turned up soon afterwards. “Bones, dude, I got dumped by Gaila for some bigwig with tentacles! Can you believe it? She tells me: Jimmy, you human boys are all very well but sometimes a girl has needs and only tentacles will do. How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?”

As he came round their sofa he did his standard double take. “Well hello! And who do we have here? I’m Jim Kirk.”

“Victoria Turnbull,” replied the object of his newly awakened interest.

“Cadet Kirk,” warned Pike, “that would be _Admiral_ Turnbull to you, son.”

“An Admiral? Really? Beautiful _and_ powerful. What more could a man want?”

Leonard was tucked up tight and warm at Chris’s side as they all watched Kirk do his best to flirt with the Surgeon-General.

“She’s not actually taking him seriously, is she?” whispered Leonard.

“I don’t think so, but with Victoria, who the hell knows? Beholden to no one, that woman.”

“Chris, you know, this is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“What is?”

“This.” McCoy waved in a gesture that seemed to encompass the party, the friends who sat around them and Chris’s company.

At that moment Pike realized that maybe he didn’t need to find Leonard some fancy present. Being publicly acknowledged as his partner and lover in front of their friends and their colleagues was all McCoy had ever wanted.

He decided that Leonard’s thirtieth birthday present would be a surprise celebration involving all their friends. If he got both Jim and Victoria to plan it, it was guaranteed to be a hell of a party.

\- THE END -


End file.
